


Fall (For You)

by Burgie



Series: Icarus [4]
Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-18 14:44:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18701698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Daine's attempt to get over his fear of the ice goes very, very wrong. Daine belongs to HellishSam.





	Fall (For You)

Even in the bright light of day, the peaks of the mountain pass connecting Dino Valley to the rest of Jorvik looked imposing. Dangerous. Treacherous. Almost like fangs. Well, if one squinted. Maybe. Okay, not really. But in many ways, Daine thought that his life would have been a whole lot easier if that mountain pass had never unfrozen, never thawed, if the ice had never melted. Maybe then, he wouldn’t have been out on the ice that day when it had become thinner. Thin enough to break beneath the weight of horse and rider. Or maybe, if it was more populated, if the Jorvik Rangers could be bothered coming all the way out there, someone would have been able to warn him, would have been able to put up signs warning of the thin ice, would have been able to help him. Maybe then, he wouldn’t have even been on the ice. Wouldn’t have drowned.

But it was done now. There was no undoing the past, much as Daine might want to be able to. No way of going back in time and changing things, stopping himself. No way of getting rid of his fear of the ice, of the water. Louisa had, admittedly, helped Daine with his fear of the water, though, and now he could swim without fearing for his life. She’d taught him, in Jorvik City where there was an aquatic centre. But even that had been scary, until she’d shown him that it was okay. Held his hands while treading water in front of him, pulled him out slowly, inch by inch, until he’d been treading water too. That had taken weeks, though.

Daine didn’t want it to take that long to get over his fear of the ice, though. Not when he still had nightmares about that freezing cold that had frozen his limbs even before the life had seeped from them. Not after he’d had to rescue his girlfriend from the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur. She hadn’t gone through the ice, though, thankfully, though he’d asked her a thousand times if she had and if she was okay. He’d never been so scared in his life, he hadn’t even left her side for longer than a few moments at a time. Until the next morning, anyway, when he’d been worried about acting too clingy and had left to have breakfast with Willow. But even then, he’d constantly checked his phone, texting her every few minutes to make sure that she was okay. She hadn’t even caught a cold, though.

But that last expedition had been months ago. Louisa had promised to avoid Dino Valley for a while, not just for Daine’s peace of mind but also because the fall and being trapped there had scared her too. But now, she was going back. She had horses to train, rare artefacts to find and donate to the museum. Daine admired his girlfriend’s tenacity, the way that she kept doing things even when she could have avoided her responsibilities entirely. There was nothing tying her to it, after all, there were plenty of people who could help Nic, plenty of people who could donate artefacts to the museum, plenty of people who could venture out into the snow. But Louisa kept doing that, just because she wanted to help people.

Now, though, as he stood in his stable preparing to go, Daine wasn’t sure if he could even step outside without breaking down.

“What’s on your mind, dad?” Cloud asked, nuzzling Daine’s hand as he petted his beloved Jorvik Warmblood.

“Just thinking,” said Daine, looking at the hay that Cloud stood on. He pictured ice instead, and his heart rate leaped. He cursed, closing his eyes.

“Thinking about what?” Cloud asked, nudging Daine’s hand so that Daine would look at him.

“Doing something stupid,” said Daine. “But that’s nothing unusual for me, huh?”

“Dad,” Cloud chided. Daine sighed.

“I’m thinking we should brave the ice again,” said Daine. “Get over our fear of it.”

“Oh,” said Cloud. “I don’t like the ice, dad. I don’t want to go back there.”

“Me neither,” said Daine with a shiver. “But Louisa had to walk back through Dino Valley all the way to Nic’s camp to meet up with Willow, all because I was too scared to even go through the pass.”

“But she was okay,” said Cloud. “Wasn’t she?”

“She was,” said Daine. “But I just feel like a bad boyfriend. And we almost fell out of the sky just because my phone went off.”

“She doesn’t mind,” said Cloud. “She loves you, it doesn’t matter that you’re too scared to go somewhere. Or maybe she can help you out here too like she helped you learn to swim?”

“I don’t want her to have to do that,” said Daine. “She has better things to do, she doesn’t need to waste time helping her coward of a boyfriend learn to do the simplest things like go out on a frozen lake without freezing up.” Cloud gave a nicker at the pun, and Daine sighed.

“You could ask someone else for help,” said Cloud.

“I’m just sick of asking for help, okay?” said Daine, looking Cloud in the eye. “I want to do this by myself. And you’re the only one I trust to come with me.”

“But it’s cold there,” said Cloud.

“I’ll give you a warm mash when we get back,” said Daine. Cloud’s ears perked up at that, and Daine smiled at him. The way to a horse’s heart was through the stomach, apparently.

“Okay,” said Cloud. “Let’s go, dad.”

Daine quickly got to work tacking up Cloud and rode out of the stable before he could chicken out. His heart pounding, he sent a message to the group chat, asking them to meet him in Dino Valley. A few of his friends were concerned, none moreso than his girlfriend, but Daine assured them that he would be fine. He only wished that he could believe that himself.

The ride seemed to pass all too quickly for Daine’s liking, but finally, he was at the frozen mountain pass. He shivered, his breath steaming in the air as he looked up at the looming walls of ice. Cloud shivered too, though neither of them were shivering because of the cold.

“Okay,” said Daine, taking his hands from the reins for a moment to rub them together. “Let’s do this.”

“We can still go home,” said Cloud, his ears pinned as he pawed nervously at the ground.

“No,” said Daine, shaking his head. He’d come so far, he couldn’t back out now. Besides, everyone was already there waiting for him. “We can even do it near the shore. Not that I know how deep the water is.” His heart was in his throat, the metallic taste of fear coating his mouth. His fingers already felt numb. But he was done with letting fear hold him back.

Taking a deep breath, Daine picked his reins up again and urged Cloud onward through the narrow pass, trying not to let fear claim him as the walls closed in around them. But it was only a short, winding distance, and then they were out the other side and shivering in the frozen air of Dino Valley.

“Can I trust you to get down the mountain, or do you wanna risk the elevator?” Daine asked.

“I don’t like either of those options,” said Cloud. Daine didn’t either, but it could only be one or the other. He still hadn’t quite mastered flight with Cloud just yet, and with visibility being as low as it was in here, that would be a bad idea anyway.

“I guess we’ll take the elevator, then,” said Daine, starting Cloud up the old wooden ramp leading up the the too-large elevator. After dismounting his horse to enter the elevator, Daine stood close to him, feeling the reassuring warmth and solid presence of his Soul Steed. After that, it was a very short ride to the part of the lake that he’d chosen to try this at.

Wanting to be as close to the entrance as possible, Daine had chosen a spot not far from the entrance, where the lake was first accessible. His friends were already there waiting for him, dressed warmly. Daine was glad to see their faces, their presence calming him and reassuring him that there would be someone to catch him or to drag him out if the worst happened.

But greeting his friends was as far as Daine got. As he stood there on the frozen shore, his heart pounding, his body froze. Every glance at the ice increased his fear tenfold, and Cloud shuffled behind him, not only feeling Daine’s fear but echoing it with his own fear.

“It’s okay, Daine,” said Louisa, walking forward to embrace Daine. Daine returned it automatically, feeling himself thaw from his fear slightly in her arms. “We don’t need to do this if you don’t want to.”

“Yes, I do,” said Daine. “I’ve brought you all here, I can’t chicken out now.”

“If you’re sure,” said Astor, standing beside Evergray wearing an outrageously-patterned knitted scarf.

“We’ll do it like before, when you were learning to swim,” said Louisa. She walked out onto the ice, which Daine swore creaked. But it was probably just his imagination. Daine nodded, watching her, though his anxiety spiked. He took a step forward, one foot touching the ice.

At the sound of a crack, Daine’s eyes widened. He was pretty sure that everyone was frozen.

“Dad,” said Cloud, concern quavering his voice. And Daine looked down, his pulse speeding as he saw the crack that spread from his foot out towards where Louisa was standing.

“W-what do I do?” Louisa asked, trembling.

“Run,” said Daine, his voice whisper-quiet. But then he repeated it, louder. “Run!”

At Louisa’s movement, though, the ice suddenly cracked alarmingly. With a gasp, she locked eyes with Daine for a moment before the ice beneath her gave way, sending her plummeting into the icy depths.

Daine didn’t even hesitate. At Louisa’s cut-off scream, he jumped into action, even before anyone else could move. Tearing his sweatshirt off, Daine ran out onto the breaking ice and dove into the water, fire consuming him so that the water felt almost room temperature.

In the murky depths, Daine could see Louisa sinking. The water had stolen strength from her just as quickly as it had stolen it from him the first time. Her hair floated around her like a cloud. But Daine didn’t hesitate. He swam down towards her, strong strokes that he’d learned thanks to her. He couldn’t lose her, not now, not when this had been his stupid idea to start with and she’d just wanted to help him like she always did and fuck, fuck, fuck…

And then, just when it seemed like she’d float out of his reach, Daine’s fingers touched Louisa’s arm, wrapping around her upper arm and pulling her towards him. Once he had her in his arms, Daine focused only on warming her, on heating his body as he had back when she’d fallen from Trouble and needed rescuing. He knew that he’d feel tired later, but right now, Daine’s only thought was to save his girlfriend from hypothermia. He didn’t even feel his wings appear, though he did notice the light that suddenly appeared around them. His focus was only on returning the colour to Louisa’s skin, ensuring that she didn’t freeze. The water turned warmer around them as Daine turned and swam with her in his arms back to where they’d fallen in, back to the surface.

Seconds after the two had disappeared, Daine emerged into the air on wings of fire, gasping for air. His body steamed, his wings hissing against the water, but Daine was only airborne for a moment before he landed on the shore. Using that much of his magical power had drained him, and he panted, hardly wanting to let Louisa go. But she wasn’t breathing.

“No,” Daine whispered, shaking her. “No, no, no, please, don’t die, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have, I didn’t mean for this to happen…”

“Daine, you need to put her down,” said Astor, standing at Daine’s shoulder. Evergray had already laid his robes on the ground. “You can’t do mouth-to-mouth with her in your arms.”

Daine didn’t want to look at Louisa as he lay her gently down on the robes, but he wanted to know when she started breathing again. He stepped back, letting Astor breathe life back into her, trembling at the sight, at the thought of possibly losing her. He’d brought her out of the water and warmed her up, yes, but… was it enough? He wasn’t sure if he even breathed until Louisa coughed and spat out the lake water, and then Daine was at her side, pushing aside Astor and pulling Louisa into his arms. Louisa still coughed, but Daine didn’t mind if she coughed on him. As long as she was alive.

“You’re okay,” Daine whispered, tears sliding down his cheeks.

“Please don’t blame yourself,” said Louisa when she’d stopped coughing for now. “You didn’t know this would happen.”

“And you saved her life,” Astor chipped in. “And then you flew out like a phoenix, flaming wings and all.”

“Damn, I’m sorry I missed that,” Louisa murmured. But Daine only kissed her forehead, tears still streaming down his face.

“You’re okay,” Daine said again.

“Well, she won’t be okay for long if we don’t get both of you out of this place,” said Willow.

“She has a point,” said Louisa. “Are you going to let me go so we can get out of here?”

“I’m never letting you go again,” said Daine as he stood, still holding Louisa in his arms. She was still utterly drenched from her brief dip in the lake, as was he, and they were both shivering so much that their teeth threatened to destroy anything they came into contact with. But at least they were alive.


End file.
